


Something's Wrong

by Stratagem



Series: Among the Gifted [6]
Category: The Gifted (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Thunderblink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-21
Updated: 2017-10-21
Packaged: 2019-01-20 21:04:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12441798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stratagem/pseuds/Stratagem
Summary: John knows something is wrong the moment he sees that portal. It shouldn't be there. Clarice isn't at that level yet, not with her warm jelly donut sense of focus.





	Something's Wrong

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own The Gifted.
> 
> A/N: AHHHH, that last episode though! Man I love this ship. And I'm very annoyed with Dreamer. That wasn't the best choice she could have made, and it's definitely going to have long term repercussions. But I do think the Thunderblink ship will sail under its own power soon enough.
> 
> This is set during the end of S1E3, and it's John's POV.

John knows something is wrong the moment he sees that portal. It shouldn't _be_ there. Clarice isn't at that level yet, not with her warm jelly donut sense of focus. Out beside the portal, he sees a flash of autumn leaf red, Dreamer's hair, and his gut twists even more because that means she's there and Clarice is there at the same time and Sonia has a bad habit of doing drastic things—

He knows something's up, something isn't right, but he can't think about that now. He's busy driving, busy getting shot at, and while he can't really get hurt by a few bullets (he'll bruise a little, maybe), everyone else in the SUV can. One stray bullet, and it's going to be Marcos or the kids or Caitlin bleeding out in this ratty old car, so he takes a chance on the portal that shouldn't be in the middle of the road.

The SUV skids to safety, and he gets out, leaving the Struckers to Marcos as he goes to find out exactly what's going on.

Both Clarice and Sonia are running toward him, but Clarice is out in front and there's something new and unfamiliar in her bright eyes. It's a warmth that he could have sworn he saw a glimpse of earlier, but now it's full-blown and it _shouldn't_ be there, not like that. Just like that portal.

He's starting to understand as the adrenaline dies down, now that he isn't worried about people dying. But he can't stop himself from opening his arms to her as she races up to him and leaps at him, knowing he'll catch her when before she would have been skittish, uncertain. That trust unsettles him because it's so unlike her.

Part of him wants this. He would be lying if he tried to say he didn't, but not this way. Never like this. Because as Clarice hugs him, arms tight around him like she was afraid of losing him, he can smell Dreamer's memory smoke lingering in her hair, beneath the honey scent of the shampoo Clarice used. He holds her too, lost for a split second in a could-have-been, is-this-real, a half-formed I-wish, but even as he holds her, realization is rushing in. He runs his hand in a circle against her back.

This isn't Clarice. This is Dreamer. This is Dreamer looking at him with Clarice's eyes.

He doesn't know what to say as she looks at him with excitement and trust and that thing he doesn't want to name. He doesn't want to break her and he doesn't know what to do, so he lets her go inside without telling her.

And then there's Sonia. Sonia with an excuse and a reason, but he told her not to do this. Not to Clarice. Not when Dreamer knew that this kind of thing could mess a person up.

He lets Dreamer leave too because honestly he doesn't want to talk to her anymore right now. He's grateful that he's not dead, but he doesn't agree with what she did.

This is a mess.

John takes a deep breath, focusing on the smell of the Georgia pines and the last bit of summer in the air. He tries to calm himself, but all he can think of is the way Clarice looked at him so he follows the others inside.

This isn't how he wanted this to happen.

But things never work out the way he wants them to, so why should this be any different?


End file.
